Department of Western History

At present there are three departments of History i.e. Ancient Indian History, Modern Indian History and Western History in the University of Lucknow conferring five Postgraduate degrees viz. M.A. in Ancient Indian History (Archaeology), M.A. in Ancient Indian History (Culture), M.A. in Modern Indian History, M.A. in Composite History (runs in combination with Modern Indian History and Western History) and M.A. in Western History; and three undergraduate degrees i.e. B.A. in AIH and B.A. in History (runs in combination with Modern Indian History and Western History); and B.A. in History and Culture of Asian Peoples by Department of Western History.
Although initially the Department of History was a combined Department offering courses of study in Ancient India, Medieval and Modern India, and European History when the University was established in 1921. The course content of European History as taught by the erstwhile department of History was confined to British and European History and the expansion of European power in Asia and other areas. In 1938-39 Lucknow University was the first university in India to introduce a paper at the PG level to teach American History.

In1956 the Department of History was bifurcated into two Departments: The Department of Ancient Indian History and Archaeology and the Department of History with the latter continuing to manage Medieval & Modern Indian history as well as European, British and American history.

In 1972, the present Department of Western History came into existence after further bifurcation of the Department of History into two separate departments, one limited to the study of Medieval & Modern Indian History, and the other Department of Western History.